Patna,(BiharTimes): In a significant statement made after the conviction of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha member and senior party leader Shivanand Tiwari said on Sunday that his party should enter into an alliance with the Congress for the coming Lok Sabha election.

However, he hastened to add that this is his personal opinion and it is the party which would take final decision at its Chintan Shivir in Rajgir later this month.

Tiwari said the JD (U)-Congress alliance would be in the larger interest of Bihar.

He did not stop there, but went on to state that the anti-Congressism started by Ram Manohar Lohia was now over. He said that it was relevant when the Congress was a powerful party.

The Janata Dal (United) leader further said that the BJP was not a pan-India party, hence it cannot get majority in the coming Lok Sabha election.

He said that former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi had till recently been campaigning to make the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar the prime minister of the country so that he could himself become the chief minister of the state. Now as he wants to atone the sin committed in the past and sound more loyal to Narendra Modi he is going all out to criticize his former boss.

Tiwari went on to accuse Narendra Modi of being anti-Dalit as he favoured the practice of scavenging in his

state. He quoted a booklet, Karmyogi, published in September 2005 in which Narendra Modi had claimed scavengers felt “spiritual” pleasure" while carrying night soil on their heads.

Tiwari said RSS is the child of Ravan, a mythological character in the Ramayan.

Meanwhile, former minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh strongly criticized Tiwari for his comments against Sushil Modi and went to the extent of calling him rangbaaz.

Political observers are of the view that Tiwari’s statement can not be rejected out of hand as he often speaks what Nitish Kumar wants.